tfu...i

l!t.5 02.l59lll l.OOO 6/a4 8.A.l.l'. c.,., l.ld, GUO

OFFICE OR fN01VI0lJAL

J"l .m

s

of'

s

192' 2? li•T•mlaer

PREVIOUS PAPERS

/f. /Jl • .J.,..

SUBSEQUENT PAPEHS

•

OFFICE OF THE G OVERNOR-GI .NERAL OF SOUTH AFRICA.

SUBJECT

~renc}'I fiehin" ri«}'lte in territorial watere .~

Crezet Ielllln4.e 9na actiTith1e oC Miaeere IrTin an' Johna•r· •f' th!! Ker1r;uelen Sealin« and Whalin,. Coy. : re;i\.let:te tl'u1t pteiti •n \se nia(f' oleQr t• C•Y• :

a:ppln. •f Sir. J. Irvin •n behalf .~ Cey. -f'or licence

•f e~ali r,.. «u•n• llln4 mineral ri"hte in re ep~ct •"

Prince F,&yar' snd J.lari •n Ielan'e : 1'tn8rie Decrfte

•f 27 Uarcb, 1924 ef J'renob Uini t-try ef Cel oniee.

~I I:-; UT 1-:s

1 J~ ~ ~

"'Ile«.,

41-y ~

l

₁

_t ^1.-

r~ tfu...i

•

••

⁰

'

•

• _••

UliION OF SOUTH AFRICA No 3b-,

IOWlilUG STREET,

~ November, 1924.

~th octo"oer.a_

lLy Lord,

With reference to my predecessor's despatch Uo. 2?7 of the 9th of September, I have the honour to tranauit to Your Excellency, to be laid before your Uinieters, the accocpanying copy of a note from the

French Ambassador on the subject of French fishing rights in the territorial. waters of the Crozet Islands and the activities of Messrs. Irvin and Johnson of the Kerguelen Sealing and \'i.aaling Com:pa.ny.

2. I shoU!d be glad if the position with regard to the Crozat Islands may be made clear to the Kerguelen Seal ins and Who.ling Compa.1".y.

3. As regards the third pa.ragra.ph of the note the reference preeuma'bl;r 1 s to an e.pplico.tion which has been ma.de by Sir Jonn Irvin on behalf of the Kerguelen Sealing

and Ylhaling Company for a licence of sealing, guano and mineral rights in respect of Prince Edward and Marion

~ , . , Islands. This applicetion is still under consideration. ni toL~, 4. In this connection I may observe that it a.ppea.re

F //..,r.__\/

or· ··· ··~hat the Decree of the 26th of l!arch 1924 enclosed in the

A1nuta No

_... ffir" 7·1.'";··· ......

French Ambassador's noto of the 6th of August, a copy of

t,,f/;.~ L~:t/.

( s· ·

^~--.Vhich was transmitted in the despatch under reference,

Zf.t f) A 1 H l 0 N E.

wae £orwarded apparently in error, inatcad of the Decree of the 2?th of March of the French Uinistry of the

GOV:ER?iOR GElTE.RAL Colonies.

HIS EXCELLElTCY

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE EARL OF ATHLONE,G.C.E.,G.C.ll.u.,G.C.V.O., D.S.O.

&c. &c. &c.

Cop1e

(30633).

SC~, EXC 'LLErCE

K!BASSADE ": FR.Al'CE TI'~ A:. Gi.F"' R E LO':l)RES.

le 2 Juillet,1913.

!!ons1eur le

Secr~taire

d

'

Etat:-

.Ear une note en date

du ~

Ju1n ernier Votre Excellence

&.va.1 t bi en voulu m 'expr1n er le des1r

de savoix

s~

les ilea Crozet

devr~1ent

bien etre con- s 1d.6rees corr.me sou:nises a la souverainete de la France

.

Votre Excellence rre derr.andeit

eg.le~ent,dans

cette

n:eme

co!?:!' 'lmicc.tion, s1

^u.'11

deme..ndeur en concession,

d~ns

l'ile de la Possession, 'onsieur

Heppel~

ne d.evrait pas etre

invite~

s 1s1r de sa requ&te onsieur le

.1r.istre

des

Colonies.

En

rewnse a lSi. 1.4J.Uillde d ' information

~ue je

lui ava1s

a.dress~e

a

^{Ce SUjet.}

^{'onsieur le}

^inistre

^des

Affa!res

Etran~eres

vient de ree

cha.r~er

de

d~clarer a.u

Gouvernenent Britszu:i ue "que lee ilea Crozet sont terres Franceises et

~ue

toute

de~ende

de concP.seion lea visant do1t €tre

a.dresses

directe ent, pox le re-

querant

a

^ionsieur

le .,.1n1stre des Colonies de

la Rei.t..ibl 1~ue".

Veu1llez

agr~er

etc.,

(Signe) PAUL C'.A!~l"

SIR ED7i' ARD G . 'l

·~ IST D S A-:;'T'AIRRS L'TRA.: "'l:'RES

CCPY

ro.

^24648/13.

Your F..xcellency,

FOR IG 0 1cr,

June 2nd 1913.

I hc..ve the honcur •o call Your Excsllency's

;

~ttent1on to

my

note

of y

28th

1910

on

the

subject of the Crozat Islcm.ds,cnd to the corres.r.on ence

wnich passed between the

French a..~d

British

Governr.:ents

in

1905-7,

respecting an ePJ.;11.ca.tion

by .r. ' .E.

· Heppell for a rr.1ning conc;iss1on in Possession Island,

one

of tha.t grou:p,' ~1· • .F.ep~ll, who

a'P. ea.rs

nevar to have

started o.erat1cns in

the 1sland,ha.s

now reneITed his

a .. lic~tion for

concess1on,be1n

still ~~arently

under the

in:~ressicn

that the roup is under

Britis~

sovereic.;nty.

His Ma~esty¹ s

Governn:ent

^a.re not wva.re uhether tne French Governr

ent

have proceeded

jith

their

inten-

tion, of r. •. ich ^! was informed ^by Your Exc-llency in a rote VerbsJ.e dated the 15th March

1910,

to assert

Frencr.

sovereignty over

tne

Crozet Islands. I should

therefore

be obliged if

Your

Tixcellency ·.ould be

so e:ood as to

inform ~e ~hether these

islands

are no~

French

~osses-

s icns, and v:hether ::r.Heppell should be directed to co:r.: unicate r.1 til the Fi·ench . 1n1ster

of

the Colonies r.1 ^th rage.rd to the cone ss1on which he desires.

I

have t .... e :.or..our etc . ,

( Sgd) F.. GREY.

HIS EXC LLEl'CY

101 SIEUR C.A11BOH,

&c • , &6 • , &c • ,

•

• If

COPY

NO. l ?767 /10)

,

Your Excellency,

'"'0 :.:I GN 07FIC lliy w6th 1910.

ri1th reference to the lle!r.orandurc com- municated by Your Excallency on .. ~rch 15th la.st, I

have

the

honour

to infonn

you

that this country

ha.s

nevar claimed the Crozat Islands. At the smr.e tiII:.e

I

venture to call Your Excellency's

attention

to the correspondence which took place between the British and French GovernI!:ents duri.'lg the yea.rs 1905-1907.

The French GoveIT..."T.ent 1 on bein 1nv1 tec1

to

grant a.

reining

concvSSion

in Possession

Island,one of

the

group in uestion,

to

a cert in r. ⁱ .E. iePJJell, 'l'ii

thout

ever def1n1 tely stating hether they cla1n ed. t!!ese Islands

or

not, finaily replied in a Note

of June

27th 1907 fron: l!onsieur Pic..'ion to His 2 j esty' s Cha.rg6 d 'Affaires a.t P ris that

"le

Gouvernement de la.

ReFubli

ue se

desinterresse

des

~ta.bl1sse~ents

U1 viendraient a

etre crJes dnns lee Iles

en question"

. Eis 1 jesty's Government

therefore

earnestly

hope

that,

if r. Heppell eva:r proceeded Vii th his undertaking the FrencL Gove!'l'.Itent will a.llo\7 him to continue

unc11sturbed or ;111 grant hirr: tne concese1on pr1g1.nally ai;.

lied

fol' 1 f he still desires 1 t. I rr.a.y add the.t the

replies

to

several recent Sl ... 11cat1ons

for

fishing and landing rie:~ts ir:. these Islr.nd.s ha.ve been ba.sed on t .• e st te!Dent

ot .

onsieur Pichon ¹ s that I have just

uoted..

In reply to Your Excellency's second question I have HIS EXCELLErCY

"ONSIEUR C.AHBOr,

&c.' &c., _&o.,

Article ler.

Ar¢1cle 2.

Article 3.

A1·t101e 4.

c.!'CU.RllAL Q'""-ICIEL du 29 ma.rs 1984.

Le

Pr~s1dent de

la. ReP-1bl1<iue Fra.nca.1ee,

Vu

l

'article lo

du

s~na.tus consul

te du 8

n:ai

1854

&..ir

le propes1t1on du .1n1stre dee Colonies

.

""' E C R E E

Dons l

'Arc.a.ipel .:ie

Crozet et sur 111. terre

Ad~lie

ou

Wilkes les

droits

rriniere,

le dro1t de

Chasse

et le droit de

~echs

i::.ans

les

e

we

terrltoriales

eont r~server

aux Frnnc~ is.

Les ~tablissaments

a

^{terre, 1'}1nstallation

des

usines

notantes dms

les eaux terri toriales, l

'

exploi

tf tion des us~nes,et toute concession dB

quel

.ue nature qu'elle soit devr~ faire objet d'un

decret

rof()sition

du

!1nistre des Color.1es.

Les

~tails

d'

a.~11cat1on

des d1sr.ositions

^du

~r6sent

d9cret feront l'objet de re len:ents ulter1eurs

.

Le

'ir..istre des Colonies est

charge de

l'execut1on

du pr~sent

decrat.

Fait a Pexis,le 27 ma.rs 1924.

(Si~1.fl A. ILL.~A?ID .

.Par le President de la

Re~ubliQue:

Le lnistre des Colonies

A S.ARRAUI'.

t I COP IE

(W. 9568/6677/l ?)

FR.A; CE EI.T AJ. GLET RRE

LOl:DRES.

le 30

Octobre,i924.

l.!onsieur le Secr~taire d. 'Eta.t

JI

ai

eu l 1hc:U:eUr le 6 AoUt dern!er ^de I-Orter

a

^la

cor.na.iseanoe de Votrs Excellence

qu'Wl

decret du Gouvernement franyaiS

aVai t reelement~ 1¹ exerCiC8 dee

drOi

tS de Chasse et

peche dans

,s~ ⁴les

Crozet,et ava1

t reeerv~

a ses ns.tionaux

1

droi t

ae _,e~.ll\3 dans las eaux

terri tor1a.les.

J

'

a1

~te

charge

^par mon Gouverne~ent de Vc~s fa.ire

savoir

que les

arma.teurs Irving

et

Johnsen de la

"Kerguelen

Sealing

& Tihali~g ^{Co . ,}

qui ne

detiennent

qu 'un

droit

de chasse &ux

loups-marine et

6l~pha.nts

de

mer

sur une

~a.rt1e

des cotes

de

l 'archipel .ie

Kerruelen: {droit

qui

leur

a

et6 retro~d~ ^}Jar

~.Bossi~re,

concessionna.ire,franca.is d

'

exploitqtion de ces ilea) ont a plusieurs reprises 8-."i!e ^{pour la}

^~ache

a ^la

^baleir..e

et pour la. Chasse eux

~l~phants de mer,

dans lea

eaux

terri- torial.es et eur les

tiv-a.ges

des iles

Crozat.

En

outre le

Gc"v~"."1lement

f1·a.n¥ais croi t &woir ue

Johnson vient

d 'a.f "':"t

r

un

navire

pour

aller

tr~s

proc a1ne- ment aux ilea Crozat et qu'11 sollic1tera1t en ce

~oment

du Gouverne ... ent britanni ue une licence de peche

.

.

Herriot

~·a prie de rappeler ~

Votre

F.xcellence

1 'intention au Gouverne=ent francais d

'

effirmer l

'existence d sa souvereinete dans ~ les 1les Crozet,et dans le cas pa.r-

ticul1er

,~ue

j

'

ai

i ¹

hcnneur de Vous s1p:naler d'empecher

la

rraison Irving et

Jo~nson de

dilnpider les reseources prec1 uses des r6ssrves d'an1Itaux rr.a.r1ns,/

.

Veulllez ag:-~er las assur mces de la

tres haute

con-

si~ration

:vec lEW.uelle

j'a.1

l'hor..neur d'etre

.

sm~

rxcr"Lu:

^CE

? oneieu1·

le

Secretaire

d

'Eta.t

de

Votre

Exe llence

le tres hum:>le et tree

cb6ise

t

serv.te1 r

(Sign~

SAI T AULAI

Q'lSIEL"R ^iw~sAY

.ac

^{r: ALD}